Aiming to widen the scope of career opportunities of the B Pharm students in the country, the pharmacy colleges are making a concerted effort to introduce multiple job-oriented courses in B Pharm education just on the lines of B Tech courses where around 15 job-oriented courses are available based on the industry needs.

Andhra Pradesh Pharmacy Colleges Association, a body of 110 pharmacy colleges, is taking the lead in this direction. Association president Dr Jaypal Reddy said that the Association has already contacted the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the government body regulating the pharmacy education in the country, in this regard.

"An AICTE team had visited the state in this regard on January 18 and the meeting held at Warrangal remained inconclusive. An AICTE team led by vice-chairman RA Yadav is scheduled to visit Hyderabad for a detailed meeting in this regard on April 15," Dr Reddy said.

Presently, after 4 years of B Pharm course, the degree holders do not fit into anything, as the courses are not job-oriented. While most of the B Pharm holders end up in becoming a pharmacist either in India or in US, Europe or Gulf countries, some of them become research assistant or get into pharmaceutical product marketing. All of these jobs are comparatively low paid jobs.

It is a pity that when a B Tech holder earns anything between 15000 and 20000 per month soon after the 4 year course, a pharmacy graduate who also spends the same number of years in the college, mostly ends up in getting a job of Rs 3000 or 4000. It is mainly due to the fact that the courses conducted in the B Pharm colleges are not job-oriented and not based on the needs of the industry, Dr Reddy regretted.

Stressing the need to re-design the B Pharm courses as per the industry need, Dr Reddy said his association is presently working on a blueprint that will be submitted to the AICTE for implementation. People from different sections like academia, industry and clinical sectors are involved in making the blueprint. Though in a nascent stage, the proposal will include job-oriented courses like B Pharm in: R&D, industrial pharmacy, community pharmacy, clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutical technology, natural products, etc.

The main aim of re-designing of the B Pharm course is that once coming out of the 4-year course, the students can directly join well paid jobs in corporate hospitals, clinical research, R&D, ayurveda sector, etc as per their specialisation which at present is possible only after an M Pharm degree, Dr Reddy said.